Unusual
by Kintaraheart
Summary: She's just a girl who works the night shift at a convenience store in Ohio. He's just an elf who accidentally teleported himself to the wrong planet. Nothing unusual here…
1. Chapter 1

**I decided to finally start this project because it's been nagging at me again. I've always wanted to see a fic where people from Azeroth come to Earth and not the other way around. I haven't really been able to find something that quite fits what I'm looking for so I just decided that I'd make it myself.**

 **I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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I straightened my name tag one more time in the employee bathroom mirror. 'Lucy' it read in bright orange letters, harsh against the white background. I sighed at my reflection, the sunken in eyes, and reached for the green tea I'd left on the counter.

It was ten pm, my time to work, my time to shine, my time to roam the store for the next six hours until Rob came to take over at four. I didn't mind my shift, not many people came by and those who did were quick and quiet. We were back a couple miles from the highway, off toward a neighborhood full of rich suburban families and a sea of mowed lawns and minivans. All that stood barrier between them and I was a row of trees about half a mile thick where I knew teenagers liked to go to get drunk. Four nights a week, I stood behind the counter and watched and waited. Sometimes I'd turn on some music from the CD player in the corner and fill the pages in my journal with sketches of the customers who'd come and gone.

Tonight would just be like any other night. So why did I feel so unsettled? There was something in the air that just felt off, like in the summer before a nasty storm would blow through. I combed my fingers through my wiry hair and imagined myself combing them through the tension I felt all around me.

The bell from the main door chimed and I knew my time was up. I left the small bathroom and the dim, buzzing light above the mirror behind and took my place at the counter. When I looked up into the face of my first customer for the night it was as if I expected to see more than some random dude who wanted a pack of cigarettes. Of course it was the same as it always was, just some guy in his late forties with graying hair. He fit the profile for hundreds of other people who'd come into the store before, so much so that he fell under a category. Somehow seeing his plain face, just one in a sea of people who looked just like him, broke whatever weird spell had fallen over me earlier. We made our trade, cash for cigarettes, and he left the store with another chime.

Afterwards the minutes bled into the hours as the night grew later and less people came into the store. I sketched the first man's face into my book, alongside all the others who fit his description. Two thirty rolled around and no one had come in over half an hour. I turned to the CD player on the windowsill and sifted through the stack of CDs beside it. They all belonged to Rob, meaning that most of the collection consisted of hip-hop and a bunch of obscure electronic music I'd never heard of. I did what I always did and picked a random one to play. I glanced at the cover. _Moby-18_. I shrugged and inserted the disc. Any music was better than none and for all his weirdness, Rob's taste in music wasn't so bad.

I doodled along to the songs for a good twenty minutes before a car pulled up. A guy stepped out and I paused the CD player as he entered the store. He fell into the category of college guys who wanted energy drinks. He bought four and I watched as he put them all in his backpack and shuffled back to the car. They drove off and I turned to press play when something caught my eye. A huge flash of blue lit up the strip of 'woods' behind the store, the trees around it bending and swaying as if having been struck. I stared into the darkness, hands cupping the glass around my face as I watched the blue light dim but persist. What was going on, was it those teenagers? Wait… Had there been a car accident?

I backed away from the glass and stood torn. One hand shot for the phone behind the counter but I stopped myself. If it _had_ been an accident then I needed to call, but I had no way of knowing what was actually going on. It could just be those teenagers, in which case calling would just be a waste of everyone's time since half of them were the cops' own kids anyway… I waited just a moment longer, my mind ripping itself to pieces over what to do. Just as I made up my mind to pick up the phone, the light fizzled away completely and as it did a person stumbled out from the trees and into the parking lot of the car repair shop next door.

I dropped the phone and pressed my face to the glass again, trying to see if I could recognize them as one of the teens but it was too dark. That was when the person fell forward onto their knees and in a streak of bravery I threw myself out the convenience store door and to their aid.

I jogged to where they knelt on the ground, slowing in confusion as I approached them, apprehension at my sudden actions already setting in. "H-hey! Are you alright?" My voice shook and cracked as I spoke, so suddenly overcome with caution. What was I thinking, rushing into this?

I couldn't yet tell if the person before me was a man or a woman. They were dressed in some sort of long coat, the hood pulled up, and they were facing away from me. The coat was long enough that it pooled around them on the ground and under the streetlights that lit the empty parking lot, I could see that it was dark blue in color, the fabric glistening in the light.

A low groan was the only response to my question, revealing the person to be a man. Slowly he turned toward me. "Are you ok?" I asked again.

Then I saw his eyes. _Green_ , startlingly so, and glowing so bright that it reminded me of the neon open sign on the front door. I almost jumped backwards in fear and confusion. The man froze as we stared each other down.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, finally here with another chapter. It's awesome to see such positive feedback so early on :) I promise I'm going to stay on top of actually replying with this fic.**

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 **Ihsaan: As always, your review is much appreciated. And you're right, it really is very common as far as Earth-Azeroth contact seems to go. It's pretty much always the Earthling finding themselves in Azeroth. I hope to finally open the door to the other way around.**

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 **Elowynn: I'm glad you liked it so much already, I hope you're still here after so long for chapter too.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own anything.**

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Inerin wasn't quite sure what had happened as he stumbled through the trees toward the only other lights he could see beside that of the residual arcane glow that remained of his faulty teleportation attempt. All he knew was that this _definitely_ wasn't the Undercity. Perhaps he was in the forests of Tirisfal, just a little off from his destination. It _was_ rather difficult to teleport to places beneath the ground.

He tried once more to latch onto any nearby ley lines to get a read on his location, but failed to feel anything aside from another nauseating jolt of dizziness. Funny thing, that. He could almost always feel ley lines wherever he was, in fact he'd never been to a place where he couldn't. It was like a little, ever constant thrum within his blood that sung when he was close to one, but never faded no matter what. It was startling to be standing here, unable to feel anything when he reached out, but as the headache and dizziness grew strong enough to make him stop for a moment, he wondered it he had injured himself upon teleporting and hadn't realized it because he was in mid-cast.

After a few deep breaths, Inerin continued on toward the lights, tripping over his robes as he pushed through the last bit of vegetation. Now he stood on a paved lot with a bright, oddly shaped lantern overhead. Squinting beneath it, he knelt against the rough stone beneath his feet as another wave of dizziness overcame him, stronger than ever now, strong enough that he even groaned. His own heartbeat pulsed in his ears as he struggled through another few deep breaths as he tried to gather himself.

Then there were footsteps and he froze as a voice rang out from behind him. It was the voice of a girl and as he turned he saw it belonged to a human. Confusion crept through him when he noticed she wasn't speaking common, or really _any_ language he could recognize for that matter. Realization struck, then, that this most definitely was _not_ Tirisfal, unless he'd run into one of the last remaining Crusaders, which he doubted. He glanced to the building across the paved lot, at the bright signs that buzzed like the lantern above him. They were somewhat like the Goblin streetlights and Winter Veil decorative lights the Goblins put up in their cities, the ones that ran on electricity. Was he in some sort of neutral settlement, was that why this girl was even speaking to him- regardless of language- and not running or turning hostile on sight?

Inerin looked back to said girl and noted the fear on her face. Perhaps he was wrong, then, and she _was_ part of the Alliance? But this fear was different, it did not take on the blatant hatred that was often tossed his way by the humans of Azeroth, it was rather one of unrecognition and mistrust with a hint of confusion that mirrored his own. They were not so different, the two of them.

Still, she looked as though she might run and he was wondering if he should flee as well. If this _was_ Alliance territory then it could spell a disastrous fate for him, regardless of his ties to the Kirin Tor. But something changed in her face and he gasped when her hand grabbed his own. She spoke again and began to walk, pulling him along with her toward the lit building he'd eyed earlier. Before he could even process what was going on he was lead inside, a strange, artificial chime sounding as they came through the door.

He glanced around the room and didn't know where to begin. It was obviously some sort of shop or storehouse, judging by the shelves and signs, but everything was scribbled in symbols he couldn't decipher and _by the Sunwell_ the lights were bright! Color and noise was everywhere. A large wall of doors hummed in the background and his boots clicked on the smooth, white floor, the girl was still speaking and there was a loud tick coming from a clock above the front door, even the lights buzzed like the ones outside. He stopped, frozen, as his aching mind tried to take everything in and failed. He just stared at his surroundings until the girl tugged on his hand again and lead him into a much smaller room and shut the door behind them.

She spoke to him once more, eyeing him just as warily as she had earlier, yet still he could understand nothing. Frustration finally allowed him to think clearly enough to try to cast a translation spell. His fingers flexed as he tried to connect to a ley line-

But there were no ley lines, he remembered. Panic begin to set in. Now what was he to do? He was in an unknown place with an unknown person, he couldn't even recognize the apparent native language of the area, and he had no access to magic, he couldn't even _feel_ it. It was terrifying, everything was terrifying. He rubbed his eyes and groaned again as more pain worked its way through his head.

"I-I'm sorry, I can't understand you." He pleaded with the girl when she grabbed his shoulder. When he opened his eyes again, he saw the worry on her face and relaxed a bit. She was only concerned, but he could see the frustration lurking just behind the concern. At least they were somewhat on the same page. She looked up at him with pursed lips and opened her mouth to say something when the two-tone chime he'd heard earlier rang through the shop again.


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay, another chapter! This is much faster than usual. Hopefully, I can keep it going this way.**

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 **MelanaAdara: I guess we'll see, right? :)**

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 **Thanks everybody for your reviews and favs. and follows! I hope to keep on delivering.**

 **Disclaimer: I wouldn't be broke if I owned any part of Warcraft beyond my OCs.**

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"Just stay here." I murmured as I pushed past the man, despite knowing that he didn't speak any english, and left him alone in the bathroom. I tried my hardest to ignore the fact that his eyes really were glowing, so much so that they lit up his face from beneath his hood with green light. At first, outside, I'd been convinced it was just a trick of the light, but back there in bathroom there'd been no mistaking it.

 _It's just a pair of those new, weird glow in the dark contacts._ The logical part of me reasoned with my racing mind, yet still something in me knew that there was more to it than that. Beyond the eye thing there was something very _off_ about this guy. His clothes were like nothing I'd ever seen and I was absolutely certain that he was tied to the weird flash in the woods. It was like something out of a book, he was like a character from a fantasy novel, one of those nerdy books that my friends used to get into back in high school. Like he was a wizard or something. Glowing eyes, weird robe-like coat, and appearing right after a big, blue flash. _He certainly fits the part_ , I thought with an eye roll as I found myself behind the counter.

But still, what was I supposed to do? Leave him there just because I thought he was weird? Obviously he was just foreign and I was just being the usual judgmental American. He was clearly confused and possibly hurt and I wasn't going to be a jerk and leave him in the parking lot. But what next? That was the issue now. I thought about calling 911, since he seemed to have some sort of head injury and was possibly involved in some kind of accident if the flash and his groaning were anything to go on, but then I realised that maybe I should just hand him the phone. Maybe he knew someone here and could call them, it wasn't like they didn't have phones in other countries.

I pondered this as I spotted a tired looking woman sifting through the snack aisle. "Uh… We're closing early tonight due to an emergency," I said, "I can't ring you up right now."

She turned to me annoyed and gave a long drawn out sigh that filled the store and I fidgeted where I stood. I didn't have time for this kind of crap. There really was an emergency, of sorts, and I really did need to close the store, at least until Rob's shift. I hated when people like this came in.

"You really can't just ring me up quick, all I've got is a water and some chips." She said and put them down on the counter, challenging me to say no again. It took everything in me not to yell.

"Look," I gave my own drawn out sigh, "I meant what I told you. I have to close up right now because of an emergency. There's another store a few miles from here, in fact there's three convenience stores all right next to each other, all of which have lower prices than this one. Why not just go there?"

She scowled at me and opened her mouth to say something again when there was another groan from the bathroom and the guy stumbled out. His nose was bleeding profusely and he clung to the door frame to keep himself standing. The woman looked at him, bewildered. "I- I see what you mean." She quickly zipped her purse shut and shuffled out the door. I hurried after her, flipping the sign on the door to 'closed' and turning off the neon 'open' sign.

I turned back to the man and lead him to my stool behind the counter to sit down, shoving a handful of paper towels in his face. He held them to his nose and I handed him the phone. He just looked at it and then at me, eyes still glowing, but in the brighter lighting I could see purple rings beneath them, harsh against his pale face.

"Is there someone you can call?" I asked, feeling stupid for continuing to talk to him, but not knowing what else to do. I motioned to the phone and he looked it over cautiously, jumping when he accidentally hit a button and it beeped. Had he never seen a phone before? Finally he set it down on the counter and just shook his head at me in confusion.

Both of us stared at the floor for a couple more minutes. I studied the familiar, greying linoleum as I tried to think of what else to do. I sighed as I realised that I should probably just call 911. I glanced up at him as I grabbed the phone from the counter once more. His nose had stopped bleeding, but he was still wiping the blood from his face. I started to dial 911, trying to think of how I was going to explain this weird situation, when he pushed his hood back and ran his fingers through long, brown hair with a sigh. I nearly dropped the phone. His ears were huge, longer than my hand and pointed, jutting out from a curtain of straight hair. One of them twitched and I jumped just as he had a few minutes ago.

 _Holy shit._

I stood there gaping for a good minute as he stared back, frowning at me. I blinked and nearly apologized before remembering the language barrier, feeling bad for staring, but still unable to stop glancing between his ears and eyes.

And eyebrows, I realised. His eyebrows were long too and turned upward off his brow, something else I hadn't been able to notice when his hood had been up. It was so much to take in that I felt myself growing faint. I had only been joking about the fantasy novel part, but now it seemed that I'd unwillingly become a main character, too.

Slowly, I set the phone back down for the last time that night. _Looks like 911 isn't an option._


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't know how I'm updating this fast. I really don't. It's very, _very_ unlike me.**

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 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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* * *

Inerin winced as he was pulled up from the stool by his wrists, the bloodied paper rags thrown into a lined basket beneath the counter they stood behind. His headache was still there, but it had waned a bit since the nosebleed. Now it was like a low hum beneath the surface of his skull.

The young woman was still staring at him as though he was the strangest thing she'd ever laid eyes on. Had she never seen an elf before? If that was the case, then he wondered just where on Azeroth he truly was. If this is was a neutral settlement than one would think she'd have seen plenty of elves before, at the least a few in her time, especially working this… shop, of sorts. Then again, one would also think she'd at least know Common. It was rather safe to assume that wherever he was, it must be quite a rural place, far from the rest of the world, for her to have never seen an elf and to not speak any language known by the greater Azeroth.

She began to drag him along with her as she'd done earlier, but stopped to open a small book she had and scribble something down within it. He took that moment to clearly look at her for the first time since he'd come here. She looked a bit different than most humans he'd met before. Her skin was dark, darker even than some of the Mag'har orcs of Draenor. Her hair, too, was a very dark brown, nearly black, and so curly that the pigtails she wore it in stuck straight up off her head. Smaller pieces that had escaped the tails were pinned down by brightly colored barrettes. Her eyes were the lightest thing about her, a light hazel color that stood out against her skin. It was startlingly beautiful, he had to admit.

She ripped the paper from the small book and left on the counter and Inerin ceased his staring just as she looked up again. She lead him around with her as she flipped various switches along the wall, sections of lights turning off one by one around them. Then she took a small ring of keys from her and together they exited the shop. She locked the door and then took him around to the back of the building. In his curiosity and confusion lay the slightest bit of fear at being taken into a dark area with a person he'd only just met and in a place he'd never been. It struck him, then, just how alone he was in this moment.

He watched her take the ring of keys and walk to a strange metal machine, not unlike some of the Goblin technology he'd seen before. There was a set of clicking sounds and lights turned on in the interior of the machine. She opened one door and then walked around to the other side. Then she just looked at him expectantly.

Inerin fought with the caution in his aching head. The smart, experienced part of him screamed that this was a terrible idea, to get into this _thing_ with a strange woman. He knew nothing of her and though she seemed to be on his side thus far, he knew nothing of her intentions. But as he looked around himself into the dark trees on either side of the lot, he knew that he had little choice but to go with her. He was completely inexperienced here, everything he'd witnessed had been so foreign. If not for the girl's race, he might think himself on another planet. As much as he loathed relying on others for anything and the idea of his life being in the hands of another, he needed her help and if she was offering then he could not refuse.

Taking a deep breath and wincing at a throb of pressure in his head, he climbed into the machine and sat down. He mimicked her actions, closing the door once he sat down and pulling the extendable belt over his chest and buckling the little metal piece. She stuck one of the odder looking keys into a little slot next to what he could only assume was a wheel for steering and turned it. The machine shuddered to life with a growl and the whole thing vibrated haphazardly.

He recalled one of his colleagues who had a fascination with Gnomish engineering and the few diagrams he'd been shown of some of their vehicles that vaguely resembled the setup of this one. He'd never actually been inside a machine like this before, only the zeppelins that the Horde relied on for intercontinental travel and that had only been before he'd learned to teleport…

Remembering his magic made him feel hollow at its absence. Worry set camp within him as he wondered when he would feel the arcane running through him again and how long he would last without it. He was heavily addicted, that much had become obvious after the Fall, and he knew that his addiction would have only grown now that he was over halfway through his training as a mage. Though perhaps a bit better off than some of his older, more experienced fellow sorcerers, Inerin knew that as a Blood Elf and a mage, he had only days before he would need magic again. He could only hope that _somewhere_ nearby there was even the slightest hint of a ley line to hold him over.

The machine jolted as they began to roll away from the building backwards and he nearly panicked as they approached the trees, looking to the girl for answers but finding her calmly focused on her task. Just as he thought they might roll back into the trees themselves she pulled a handle and steered them forward and, faster than he was comfortable with, they rolled out of the lot and onto a paved road.

The world around him flew by outside his window and he groaned again as the dizziness returned worse than ever. He forced himself to look away, staring down at the many red and blue lights that lined the inside of the machine in front of him. He watched the girl press one of the buttons and suddenly there was music pouring from the very walls of the machine. He was as fascinated as he was scared as she turned the knob and the songs switched until she seemed to find something she liked.

It was strange music, like nothing he'd ever heard before. The beat was heavy and a woman's voice echoed as she sang, made to somehow harmonize with itself. He wasn't quite sure what he thought of it, only that it was as off putting as it was beautiful and he found himself entranced between the music and the vibration of the machine.

Before he knew it, many minutes had passed. They slowed considerably, turned, and then rolled to an abrupt stop. They'd apparently arrived at wherever they were supposed to go. Once more he mimicked her actions, pressing the red button on the buckle to release the belt and opening the door with a flimsy handle. He stepped back out into the night and took in his surroundings. In front of them stood a small, one story house with a little, red front door and unkempt bushes all around the porch. One small, buzzing light sat above the door and lit the entirety of the porch.

He followed her up the steps on shaking legs and waited anxiously for her to unlock the door, unsure of what awaited him inside. But when she opened it and turned on the lights, he was greeted only by a sparsely decorated room with a single sofa and two worn chairs. A large black box sat upon a rickety table that was pushed against one wall and thick blankets were hung to cover the windows. In the center of the floor was a patchy, blue rug and the light in the room came from a large, standing lantern in the corner.

He took a moment to take in his surroundings before his ears twitched as a loud meow sounded from the dark hallway he'd yet to look down. A small, black and white cat entered the room, rubbing against the girls legs as she bent down and cooed to it in that unfamiliar language. The cat eyed him and Inerin eyed the cat. Cats were numerous in Quel'thalas, especially strays, they were everywhere and something of a nuisance. The cat cautiously sniffed his foot and abruptly hissed at him. As per usual, animals hated him and he wrinkled his nose as he distinctly recalled the horrible lynx kitten his aunt had adopted when he was a small child. He rolled his eyes and the girl seemed perplexed as to the cat's anxiousness and shooed it away, sending him and apologetic look.

Suddenly he was overtaken with dizziness again and he realised just how exhausted he felt. Once more he ran a hand through his hair as though that would quell the pain in his head. The girl took notice and helped him to the sofa before disappearing down the hall and he sat there, taking in the silence and fighting with the pain as he waited for the girl to reappear. He sighed, everything was so confusing and he found himself wondering just how he could have ended up in such a predicament. He'd teleported to the Undercity before without any problems, what made today's attempt so disastrous? And how could a settlement of humans be so disconnected from the rest of Azeroth that they spoke a language completely unknown to him and used technology that rivaled the Gnomes' and Goblins' in make.

He supposed it wasn't impossible, though. It _had_ happened before. He briefly thought of Gilneas and how from behind their wall they lived almost completely cut off from the rest of Azeroth, safe even as their neighbors were ravaged by the undead. Quel'thalas, too, had been rather secluded for a very long time, and the people Kalimdor had been shrouded away across the sea for thousands of years before the Eastern Kingdoms' encroachment made its way to their shores. Perhaps this was yet _another_ new continent some ways off the eastern coast of the Eastern Kingdoms, a direction most explorers and seafarers seemed to either overlook or avoid.

He sighed again. His mind was only struggling to make sense of everything that had happened in what had only been an hour and a half at most. The logical part of him trying to theorize answers to his hundreds of questions and calm his panicked mind. It was exhausting, everything about this night had been exhausting. As he leaned back against the sofa he found himself beginning to slip away before remembering that he was still waiting for the girl, but it was no use. Before he could make a real effort to fight it, sleep had already won.


	5. Chapter 5

**Oh my god, it has been way too long. I am _so_ sorry. Life has really been something else for the past year and a half since I've touched this story. In addition that, I've written and rewritten this chapter over and over. It's finally summer now, though. This means that I should have some time to actually work on my stories again. I hope.**

 **Thank you all for being so patient and I'm really sorry. I hope you enjoy this chapter. It was kind of hard to write because I had an idea that I wanted to get to, but I wasn't sure exactly how to get there. I think I've set up the way enough now, though. :)**

 **Reviews:**

 **-Ihsan997: I almost made common equivalent to english, like a lot of others do in their stories, but if you look at the common language, it isn't english at all so I felt like it would be cheating. With common, there seems to be some usage of latin at the very least, though. I've been playing at the idea of maybe giving Earth its own lore for this story. Perhaps a titan created out planet, too, and common is just a lost language here? Who knows, yet. Also, I had the same thought about the technology of Azeroth compared to Earth. Azeroth is not too different from our medieval times, just throw in magic and mythology, which would be the only real shockers to an Earthling going there. The fact that Earth only has humans and animals, as far as we know ;), is something I want to play around with when it comes to Inerin's point of view. It'll be very hard for him to accept that there is such a place. Anyway, sorry for such a long reply, I just wanted to address more than just your latest comment.**

 **-HeraldSaysNO: Exactly, that's why I wanted to make this. It's an idea not nearly as played around with as it should be. I feel like it deserves at least one story where that is the main idea.**

 **-Guest 1: Well, here it is! Hopefully you're still here, haha! (Sorry about the wait).**

 **-Guest 2: Heh, thanks. I have a few ideas of where I want this to go and, I'll be honest, even after all this time I still haven't pinned just one solid idea now yet.**

 **-QuizicalGin: Hey there! Thanks so much for the review and I'm glad you enjoyed what you'd read so far. Again, I'm sorry for making people wait so long. I hope that I can bring more people into this idea since we see so many people winding up in Azeroth in other stories. :)**

 **Thanks guys.**

 **Disclaimer: As always, I own nothing save for my own characters. Also, I don't think anyone really owns the idea of Ohio, so there is that.**

* * *

The… _elf_ was asleep when I came back. I'd brought painkillers for his headache and some water, but he was already out. I sat down in the chair across from the futon and watched him for a moment, feeling like an unintentional creep. I just couldn't stop staring. I didn't know how to make sense of him, or really anything from that night. Everything had been so insane and it had all happened so quick. The flash, finding him in the parking lot, the eyes and ears and robes. Now there was a _fucking elf_ asleep on my couch. Now... I was still stuck on the now, or rather the ' _now what'?_

Yeah, now what? What came next? I'd taken him home with me like some sort of stray animal that I had no idea how to help, but it was like I'd said earlier; I wasn't going to just leave him there. I just didn't know what to do next.

I set the pills and water down on the side table and pulled it over to the futon on the off chance that he woke up and even knew what advil was. Grabbing the purple throw from the big chair in the corner, I draped it over him. Looking at his sleeping form, I couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him. There were still bits of blood around his mouth and nose and the purple rings beneath his eyes looked worse than ever. Whatever he'd been through, it clearly put a lot of stress on him.

Laying there, he no longer scared me as he had in the parking lot. In fact, he looked almost childlike, vulnerable in a way that was very odd for a person with such literally sharp and pointed features. His face was a strange combination of things, really. High, sharp cheekbones but a softer jaw, monolid eyes and a straight-bridged, slightly upturned nose. He looked like something I'd have drawn in high school. I fought off the urge to sketch him, especially when I noticed the dozens of light freckles splattered across his cheeks and nose. I'd always had a thing for freckles...

There were just so many questions. Where did he come from? What was his name? Was he really, truly an _elf_? I thought back to the flash. It had been so bright, so big. I wondered if someone else had seen it, the teens maybe. I mean, surely someone else had to have seen it. A new thought struck me; was he being pursued by something? What if we were both in danger now because I took him in?

I shook my head at the chill that ran down my spine at the idea. If he was real, then who knew what else I had thought was fantasy actually existed. It was both exciting and terrifying to realize that the myths I'd loved to read about as a little girl might be true, more than legends…

A yawn overtook me and I stretched where I stood. It was late and after everything, I was as tired as the elf on my couch.

That night, my sleep was plagued by strange dreams, borderline nightmares, really. Blood on familiar, white, tile floors and blue symbols scrawled across the walls of the convenience store. They ended with green eyes filled with fear staring back at me, and a voice screaming words I couldn't understand…

I awoke to my cat meowing loudly from the foot of my bed, hungry as always. "Really, Donnie?" I threw an arm over my face as he climbed over my legs until he stood on my stomach. He was probably my favorite thing in the world, even for how much of a little shit he could be. He'd been a gift for my sixteenth birthday and I'd had him for five years now. Despite how close I'd always been with him, it had been my sister who named him. When we got him, she was only two, and her vocabulary was rather limited. She called all cats and dogs the same thing, 'donnie,' which was her version of the word 'doggie.' Since she'd spent most of the first six months of his time with us incessantly calling him 'donnie,' it had become his name. I'd been upset at first. I wanted to call him 'oreo' or 'spot,' but eventually it just became funny.

I smiled at him, my closest friend, and scratched behind his ears. He meowed again and stared down at me with his big, green eyes and I thought of my dream.

Then it all hit me, the memories of last night, and I groaned. Even though I was sure it was nearly noon by now, I was exhausted. I sat up, Donnie meowing indignantly as he jumped away from me, and rubbed my eyes. I grimaced when I saw the makeup on my fingers. I was a mess and all I wanted right then was to curl up with a cup of tea on the couch.

The couch that currently had an elf, of all things, sleeping on it right now. Unless, of course, he'd already woken up. That thought shook some of the fatigue from me and I suddenly felt slightly subconscious. My house wasn't the cleanest of houses. I'd been working a lot lately and hadn't been home as much as usual. I knew there was a small, but growing collection of dirty cups by the sink and that the bathroom trash was almost overflowing. Not to mention that the house was covered in cat hair since it'd been a couple weeks since I'd vacuumed. Then there was _me_ and the fact that I looked like a wreck. If elves were really as _particular_ as they were in fantasy, then he'd probably judge me pretty hard.

Donnie meowed again from behind me and I sighed. There was a lot to do and I supposed feeding the cat might be a good place to begin. Making my way toward the kitchen, I was almost afraid to look in the living room, for some reason afraid of what I would see. What if I'd imagined everything from last night, if I'd had some kind of sleep deprived episode and had locked up the store for no reason? I winced at the thought of the store, certain that there were at least six missed calls from Rob on my cell phone, wherever it was. I sighed again, work was a whole other set of problems that I'd have to face, too.

Yet, I was equally as scared of the elf still being there. It would really, truly confirm everything that had happened. He would be proof that my life was changed forever. Nothing would be the same, anymore.

 _This is silly_ , I thought to myself. Whether everything really happened or not, I was going to have to face him eventually. I stopped at the end of the hall and peeked into the living room. The futon was empty and I frowned. _Had I really just imagined everything?_ I was surprised by how disappointed I was by it. I stood there for a moment, inspecting everything. The blanket was still there, as was the medicine and the water on the table. I must have been really out of-

A crash from the kitchen interrupted my thoughts and I jumped a little, startled, but excited. I hurried around the other corner and there he was, the elf, standing in the middle of my kitchen holding a small slip of paper as he stared down at my bulletin board, which had fallen off the wall. I stifled a laugh and his head snapped up to look at me and I could see the embarrassed blush forming already.

I chided myself for how excited I was by the fact that he was actually real. _You're_ way _too excited about his existence. Get a grip, girl._

He said something, then, that I assumed to be an apology, judging by the tone and his expression, his long pointed ears slightly downturned. I desperately wished I could talk to him in that moment as I picked the bulletin board up off the floor. It wasn't his fault that thing fell off the wall almost every day. I settled with flashing him a smile. After a second, he nervously smiled back and I was a little caught off guard by just how sweet he looked and the fact that he had dimples, which, for whatever reason, I found highly amusing. There was just something so _plain_ about dimples that it didn't seem like they belonged on someone so unusual, but at the same time they added to his otherworldly charm.

The other thing that seemed rather out of place was the fact that he had a hold of my grocery list, which he held out for me to take, once again looking slightly apologetic. I took the list, reading it over out of habit, and almost blushed when I saw that tampons were the first item. _Thank god he can't speak english, here's hoping he can't read it either. Wait, would he even know what tampons were? Do female elves have periods?_ Again I chided myself for my own thoughts. The rest of the list was just my usual walmart trip. Toilet paper, apples, more green tea, lucky charms… _Aw, crap_ , I thought as I read the last item, 'Present for Leah.'

Leah was my seven year old baby sister, due to turn eight in three days, and I'd been neglecting the fact that I needed to get her a present for the last two months. I sighed guiltily, I was such a wreck lately, even before the arrival of the elf. I really did need to get her a present. _Not to mention you're running out of toilet paper, so there is also that_.

I frowned at the realization that I needed to go to the store as I looked at the elf, who still stood there looking absolutely out of place in my kitchen. In the light I could see that his robes were dark blue with gold thread embroidered along the edges of the hood and sleeves. They were beautiful and I felt stupid for thinking them to be some kind of coat last night. He looked completely and utterly inhuman to me now. Not in an insulting or bad way, just _not human_.

My mind raced as I realized just how much I had on my plate in that moment and I felt myself sway a little, dizzy and overwhelmed. The elf was suddenly by my side, grabbing my arm firmly to keep me upright. I looked at him, muttering my thanks like an idiot, despite knowing he couldn't understand my words, but thankfully, he seemed to understand the meaning behind them. He lead me to my own table and pulled out a chair for me and then one for himself. I sat down with my head in my hands. I felt completely overwhelmed by everything going on in my life right then. The adrenaline I'd had last night had long since vanished and now I just felt tired.

 _No, you're not going to cry over this. Just take things one step at a time._

I took a deep breath. There was a lot to do, but it could be done. I'd been taking care of myself for a long time now, I was by no means helpless. I could do this.

First things first, I needed some tea, then I needed to make a new list. I rose, fetching a pair of cups and filling the kettle. A trip to the store was definitely in order and the sooner I went, the better. The problem, as seemed to be the case lately, was the elf. I supposed I could leave him here, but the risk of him answering the door when someone knocked or wandering off into town without me was a risk I wasn't really willing to take. I knew he wasn't a child and he was probably more than capable of taking care of himself, too, but this was a human world. Whatever place he came from was obviously very different from this one and I didn't want to leave him on his own.

Taking him with me, however, offered up a different set of problems, mainly with his appearance. The long hair was one thing, but the eyes, ears, and the eyebrows were another. He needed something to hide the glow of his eyes and his pointed ears first and foremost. A hat and a pair of sunglasses would hopefully cover those up, but the robes were a problem, too. He would already be drawing attention to himself with a beanie and sunglasses being worn inside in the middle of June, long silk robes would only add to that. Maybe I had an oversized shirt somewhere, or something that belonged to my ex, as awkward as that might be. I knew I had a pair of basketball shorts somewhere...

The water was finished boiling. I poured it into the cups and added the teabags. I returned to the table, grabbing a piece of paper and a blue pen as I passed. Obviously, I needed to get him some new clothes. Setting one cup in front of him, I sat back down and stared down at the paper. It was time to get started.

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 **Edit: Changed a mistake. Thank you, QuizicalGin, for alerting me to that ;) I'm terrible at editing properly and I often miss mistakes.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey everybody, here I am, updating again. Hopefully this time I don't disappear after this chapter, ha.**

 **Reviews:**

 **QuizicalGin: You were absolutely right about that error lol. Thanks for catching that and telling me :)**

 **Disclaimer: I still don't own anything. I mean, seriously, I own nothing. I have about $2 to my name right now.**

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Inerin watched the girl through cautious eyes as she placed a cup of tea down in front of him. She still looked like she might cry as she sat down, but she seemed much better than a few minutes ago. She had another piece of paper in front of her and a blue pen. The paper was much like the one he'd plucked from the bulletin board earlier, yellow and lined, and amazingly good quality. He knew more than a few scribes that would kill for paper so smooth, let alone a pen that had the ink _inside_ of it.

He hadn't intended to snoop through the girl's things when he'd inspected the list earlier. He'd just been trying his hardest to decipher the written language. There were some symbols similar to common and as he watched her write on the new piece of paper, he realized that they also shared the similarity of reading and writing from left to right, unlike the top to bottom, right to left reading of Darnassian and very old Thalassian texts.

Everything here was so strange. Some things in her house were familiar, like the usual furniture pieces, but those weren't what caught his eye. Everywhere around him there seemed to be machines. From the large rectangular one that hummed softly, to the smaller box sitting on the counter with a blinking light on the front of it, there were just so many machines. He wondered about the gnomish presence in this place. The machines seemed far too tame to be of goblin make. Far too _safe_ , really. Even simple machines made by goblins seemed to have some unnecessary chaotic aspect to them like completely unneeded knives or a totally exposed electrical piece that posed some sort of threat to the user. None of these machines gave off smoke or rattled as though they might explode. Instead they seemed rather streamlined, much more advanced than anything he'd yet seen.

He glanced down at his still steaming cup. Tea, at least, was familiar. He gave it a small sniff. _Green_ , he thought to himself, _my favorite._ He was grateful for the fact that despite all their differences, they both seemed to favor the same tea. He went to summon a small piece of ice or at least frost his fingers, eager to cool the tea down so that he could drink it, before remembering that he could not use magic here.

He sighed. _How could I forget?_ As if on cue, a shudder ran through him, the first since awaking this morning. He cursed his addiction, his dependence upon magic that persisted even with the Sunwell restored by the Light. He was too far away, here, wherever this was, to feel its power and that unnerved him. Lips pursed and brows knitted, he took a deep breath as the shaking momentarily ceased. At least his nose had stopped bleeding.

The girl stood and he glanced her way. She looked determined now. Her earlier fearfulness was gone for the moment. She smiled at him as she had earlier and held up a hand. He pouted when he realized that she was telling him to stay. "I'm not an animal…" He grumbled to himself as he watched her hurry down the hall.

Again he inspected his surroundings in her absence. She was something of a distraction to him whenever she was around. For whatever reason, perhaps because he had no other ally here, he was drawn to her presence. Even as she'd walked away, he'd resisted the urge to follow her like a lost puppy. _Perhaps she was right in telling me to stay._

Her house was rather sparse, even for a human. Outside of the usual furniture and the machinery, there was little in the way of decoration. It was a far cry from the home he grew up in, at least before the invasion. His mother was a painter and it showed in the elaborate murals that covered the walls of their house. Where there wasn't a mural, there was a portrait of some kind, canvases of all different sizes covering any blank patch. Here, the bulletin board was the only thing that decorated the white, plain walls. It was absolutely covered in papers and pictures. He sheepishly hoped he hadn't broken it in some way when it had fallen off the wall earlier, but it seemed just fine now.

Taking a sip of his tea, finally cooled enough to drink, he realized just how much he missed home. It had been nearly a year since he'd stepped foot in Quel'thalas and longer since he'd visited his mother. Guilt wore on him once again, as it had many times in the last few months, at the thought of his mother and aunt. Over and over they'd written to him and he barely ever replied. He swallowed, the tea feeling far thicker than it really was against the lump in his throat. He felt a strange mixture of foolish and selfish. How had it taken him ending up in a completely unknown place to realize that he missed them this much?

He wasn't given much time to dwell on it. The girl had returned, dropping a few articles of clothing on the table before him. She looked down at him expectantly as she sipped her own tea, motioning to the clothes and then pointing at him. They were meant for him to wear, he realized, and immediately suspicion rose within in.

Why? Why did he need to change his clothes? Were his robes not sufficient? It was then that he truly looked at her. She had changed out of whatever she'd worn before, he hadn't really been paying attention to what, and he noticed, then, that he'd never quite seen clothes like she wore now.

The white shirt she wore seemed intentionally a size too big for her, contrasting in a strange way with the pants she wore. If they could even be called pants, really. They were short, very short, and blue in color. He blushed when he realized that he was blatantly staring at her exposed thighs. He looked away, confused at his own reaction. He'd seen clothing far more revealing before, how was this any more startling? Sin'dorei women wore outrageously fitted clothes with holes in places that seemed rather inconvenient for anything other than looking fashionable. What the girl wore now was considerably more functional, yet still he looked away from her bottom half, frustrated with himself. _Stop acting like an apprentice, you've seen a woman's legs before._

Shaking off his own misplaced discomfort he considered just how foreign her clothing was in comparison to his robes. It was quite a bit different from anything he'd seen on Azeroth, even among the trolls and orcs, and it was a massive contrast to his silk robes. He picked up one of the pieces from the table to inspect. It was a pair of short pants like hers except quite a bit longer and made of entirely different fabric. They were smooth and shiny, like his robes, but black and silver in color. The shirt was similar to hers as well, simple, white, and remarkably well made, though he could already tell it would be a little tight on him. Beside the shirt and pants was a very strange, red and grey hat. It was soft, but itchy, seemingly made of wool, and had a large tuft of fur on the top. He put the hat down, already hating it. The last item was a pair of spectacles that were a far cry from any pair he'd seen on Azeroth. The lenses were nearly completely blacked out and when he looked through them the world was tinted. He scowled, not caring much for them either.

He looked back at her questioningly, once again wondering why this was necessary. Sure, his robes were unusual, but did they really make her so uncomfortable that she saw the need to force him into something else? It hit him then, when he looked over once more. She was wearing a pair of shoes and her curly hair had been pulled back up into the twin ponytails from the previous night. There was rouge on her cheeks, a pair of blue earrings in her small ears, and a leather satchel slung over one shoulder. The clothes were not meant for her. They were going somewhere and she intended to hide him, although from who, he did not know.

She picked up the hat and pointed to his long ears. Motioning to the spectacles, still in hand, she pointed to his eyes. He nodded his understanding to her and picked up the other articles of clothing, looking around for a place to change. This was obviously in his best interest, she was trying to protect him, but the idea that he needed to hide himself made him nervous. He wondered where exactly they were headed.

She took his free hand in her own, like the night before, and lead him down the short hallway. They stopped in front of a door that lead to a small, tiled room. A washroom, he realized once he spied the large tub against the wall. She pushed him into the room gently, handing him the hat as she did, and shut the door.

His own breathing echoed off the walls and he tried to calm himself down a little. He turned and startled at his own reflection in the massive mirror he'd somehow failed to notice until now. It was the best quality mirror he'd ever seen, not warped in any way.

He'd never seen himself so clearly before. He watched his own ear twitch slightly, a habit of his that came with being nervous. He stripped down, watching himself in the mirror. It was strange to see so much of himself and he turned slightly. He was thinner than he remembered himself being and he had acquired many more freckles than he thought he'd had. The mana tattoos that wrapped around his arms looked faded without their usual soft, blue glow. His long, waist length, brown hair was an embarrassment at the moment. It was snarled in the back from sleep, a rat's nest forming. He ran his fingers through the tangles to the best of his ability, wincing as they caught, until he looked slightly less disheveled.

Sadly, there was little that could be done about purple, bruise-like circles beneath his eyes, a side-effect of his magic withdrawal. He swallowed back his fear. He'd dealt with this before, he could do it again. He tried to remember the tips to deal with the withdrawal that they'd been taught after the invasion. Meditation, breathing exercises, getting extra sleep. He took a few deep breaths, it did little for him other than to calm his frayed nerves, but it would have to do for now.

The clothes she'd given him were entirely awkward on him, but it was clear she'd tried her best with what she'd had. The short pants were too big on him and he'd had to pull the drawstring tight to get them to stay on at all. The shirt, as he had predicted, was too tight on him and a little too short as well. Coupled with the baggy pants, he looked even more unkempt than before. The hat absolutely did not help matters. It was dreadfully tight around his ears and still failed to keep them entirely held against his head, the tips pressing back against the fabric so that his head looked strangely boxy. Putting on the spectacles, he frowned. He looked dreadful, but he supposed that if hiding his elven heritage had been the goal, they'd somewhat succeeded. His ears were tucked away and the glow of his eyes was hidden. He stared at himself. All that remained of his previous attire were his wool socks and ankle high leather boots. He looked nothing like the respected mage that he was and glowered at the man in the reflection.

Exiting the washroom, he found the girl waiting for him in the hall. She pursed her lips as she looked at him and cast him the most apologetic, pitying look anyone had ever cast his way, He crossed his arms and looked away, startling slightly when he felt her hands on his face, tucking his long eyebrows into the hat. He blushed, having forgotten about them and stared down at her in embarrassment as she carefully, gently straightened him up for a moment before shrugging. They'd done their best.

Then she took him by the hand again lead him to the door. He watched her do a once-over of her house and then frantically sprint to the kitchen for a moment after her eyes fell on her cat, who'd been peeking at them from around the corner. She was back after a minute, smiling that apologetic smile they'd been tossing back and forth since they'd met.

As always, he felt himself smile back.


End file.
